The Halloween documents comprise a series of confidential Microsoft memoranda on potential strategies relating to free software, open-source software, and to Linux in particular, and a series of media responses to these memoranda. Both the leaked documents and the responses were published by open-source software advocate Eric S. Raymond in 1998. [1] [2]
The documents are associated with Halloween because many of them were originally leaked close to October 31 in different years.
The first Halloween document, requested by senior vice-president Jim Allchin for the attention of senior vice-president Paul Maritz and written by Microsoft program manager Vinod Valloppillil, was leaked to Eric Raymond in October 1998, who immediately published an annotated version on his web site. The document contained references to a second memorandum specifically dealing with Linux, and that document, authored by Vinod Valloppillil and Josh Cohen at Microsoft, was also obtained, annotated and published by Raymond. Microsoft later acknowledged the documents' authenticity. [3] Marked "Microsoft confidential", the documents identified open-source software, and in particular the Linux operating system, as a major threat to Microsoft's domination of the software industry, [1] and suggested tactics Microsoft could use to disrupt the progress of open-source software.
These documents acknowledged that free software products such as Linux were technologically competitive with some of Microsoft's products, [1] and set out a strategy to combat them. These views contradicted Microsoft's public pronouncements on the subject.
Since the publication of the two original documents, other Microsoft memoranda on related topics have also been leaked and published.
The documents are from a variety of sources. Only some are leaked internal memos (documents I, II, VII, VIII, and X). One is a public statement (document III). The others are responses by Eric Raymond to various columns, news articles, and other works.
No. | Name | Author | Date | Brief description |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | "Open Source Software: A (New?) Development Methodology" | Microsoft / Vinod Valloppillil | August 1998 | A leaked internal report [1] |
II | "Linux OS Competitive Analysis: The Next Java VM?" | Microsoft / Vinod Valloppillil | August 1998 | A leaked internal report [4] |
III | Untitled statement | Microsoft / Aurelia van den Berg | November 1998 | Press statement from Microsoft Netherlands [5] |
IV | "When Software Things Were Rotten" | Eric S. Raymond | December 1998 | A satire piece based on Microsoft's Ed Muth comparing open source developers to Robin Hood. [6] |
V | "The FUD Begins" | Eric S. Raymond | March 1999 | A response by Raymond to Ed Muth's allegations that Linux has a "weak value proposition". [7] |
VI | "The Fatal Anniversary" | Eric S. Raymond | October 1999 | A response by Raymond to studies authored by the Gartner group for Microsoft. [8] |
VII | "Research E-Bulletin: Attitudes Towards Shared Source and Open Source Research Study" | Microsoft | September 2002 | A summary of the results of a Microsoft survey describing reactions to Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative. [9] |
VIII | "OSS and Government" | Microsoft / Orlando Ayala | November 2002 | Describes Microsoft's procedures for responding to notable conversions away from Microsoft software [10] |
IX | "It Ain't Necessarily SCO" | Eric S. Raymond and Rob Landley | August 2003 | A response to the allegations made by the SCO Group in its initial filings in SCO v. IBM . [11] |
X | "Follow The Money" | Mike Anderer | March 2004 | An e-mail from consultant Mike Anderer to SCO's Chris Sontag revealing Microsoft's channeling of $86 million (equivalent to $140 million in 2023) to SCO. [12] |
XI | "Get The FUD" | Eric S. Raymond | June 2004 | A response to Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign [13] |
These are leaked reports for Microsoft's own use, both written by Vinod Valloppillil, a program manager at Microsoft.
Document I provides a detailed introduction to the concepts behind open source software and its possible impact on Microsoft products and services. It outlines the strengths and weaknesses of open source software. Document II describes the basic architecture of the Linux system, and its relation to Unix and Windows NT. [1] [4]
Document I revealed that "FUD" (spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt) was a traditional Microsoft marketing strategy, acknowledged and understood internally. [2] Examples of Microsoft's FUD tactics are announcing nonexistent products or spreading rumors that competing products will crash Windows. [14] Raymond suggests that the documents show that while Microsoft may have been dismissive of open source software in public, it privately considers it a serious competitor.
In discussing ways of competing with open source, Document I suggests that one reason that open source projects had been able to enter the server market is the market's use of standardized protocols. The document then suggests that this can be stopped by "extending these protocols and developing new protocols" and "de-commoditiz[ing] protocols & applications". This policy has been internally nicknamed "embrace, extend, extinguish". Document I also suggests that open source software "is long-term credible ... FUD tactics can not be used to combat it", and "Recent case studies (the Internet) provide very dramatic evidence ... that commercial quality can be achieved / exceeded by OSS projects."
Documents I and II were filed as evidence on January 16, 2007, in the case of Comes v. Microsoft . [15]
The statement from Aurelia van den Berg, the Press and Public Relations manager of Microsoft Netherlands, puts forward Microsoft's view on the first two documents. It says that the documents are not an "official position", but that "it is routine and appropriate" to research competitors. This statement is only a brief response, but many points were later incorporated into an official response from Microsoft. [3]
This document is a summary of the results of a survey of developers and IT managers, carried out by Microsoft, describing reactions to Microsoft's shared-source program. Eric Raymond provides commentary suggesting ways that the open-source community can promote itself based on the results of the survey. The results show favorable responses about both open-source and shared-source principles. It also describes low total cost of ownership (TCO) as a major reason for Linux adoption, in contradiction to many documents released by the company suggesting that Windows has a lower TCO than Linux solutions. [16] [17] [18]
"OSS and Government", aka "Halloween VIII: Doing the Damage-Control Dance", is a memo from Group Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Orlando Ayala, to general managers of Microsoft regional subsidiaries. It describes the availability of support from Microsoft corporate for regional sales personnel facing competition from Linux in government markets.
An e-mail from consultant Mike Anderer to SCO Group's Chris Sontag, also known as "Halloween X: Follow The Money". The document describes, among other points, Microsoft's channeling of $86 million (equivalent to $139 million in 2023) to SCO.
Eric Steven Raymond, often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book The Cathedral and the Bazaar. He wrote a guidebook for the Roguelike game NetHack. In the 1990s, he edited and updated the Jargon File, published as The New Hacker's Dictionary.
Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film that traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement.
Unix System V is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. System V Release 4 (SVR4) was commercially the most successful version, being the result of an effort, marketed as Unix System Unification, which solicited the collaboration of the major Unix vendors. It was the source of several common commercial Unix features. System V is sometimes abbreviated to SysV.
Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices. Issues with ease of use, robustness, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. In the 2000s, a number of malware mishaps targeted security flaws in Windows and other products. Microsoft was also accused of locking vendors and consumers in to their products, and of not following or complying with existing standards in its software. Total cost of ownership comparisons between Linux and Microsoft Windows are a continuous point of debate.
In a series of legal disputes between SCO Group and Linux vendors and users, SCO alleged that its license agreements with IBM meant that source code IBM wrote and donated to be incorporated into Linux was added in violation of SCO's contractual rights. Members of the Linux community disagreed with SCO's claims; IBM, Novell, and Red Hat filed claims against SCO.
Samizdat: And Other Issues Regarding the 'Source' of Open Source Code is a 2004 report by Kenneth Brown. The report suggests that the Linux kernel may have been created or distributed illegally and that open-source software may be generally subject to such abuses.
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software that is available under a license that grants the right to use, modify, and distribute the software, modified or not, to everyone free of charge. The public availability of the source code is, therefore, a necessary but not sufficient condition. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term for free software and open-source software. FOSS is in contrast to proprietary software, where the software is under restrictive copyright or licensing and the source code is hidden from the users.
James Edward Allchin is an American computer scientist, philanthropist and guitarist. He is a former Microsoft executive.
Free/open-source software – the source availability model used by free and open-source software (FOSS) – and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.
Linux adoption is the adoption of Linux-based computer operating systems (OSes) by households, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and governments.
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Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student Linus Torvalds to create a new free operating system kernel. The resulting Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of C files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to the 4.15 version in 2018 with more than 23.3 million lines of source code, not counting comments, under the GNU General Public License v2 with a syscall exception meaning anything that uses the kernel via system calls are not subject to the GNU GPL.
"Embrace, extend, and extinguish" (EEE), also known as "embrace, extend, and exterminate", is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used open standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and using the differences to strongly disadvantage its competitors.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a manipulative propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling, and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information, and is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.
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